A worksite, such as a mining or construction site, will typically include a variety of machines, such as bulldozers, excavators, dump trucks, and the like, working cooperatively to accomplish a particular task. In order to accomplish the task efficiently, the operation, availability, and mechanical status of the machines may be tracked and coordinated to ensure that each machine is used to its maximum benefit. For example, if a worksite included an excavator filling dump trucks with material, a shortfall of dump trucks would result in the excavator sitting idly while waiting for an empty dump truck to receive the excavated material. An important factor in coordinating the machines for optimal efficiency is the machine state of various machines operating at the worksite. However, certain worksites may be a fixed fleet worksite including various models of machines from the same or different manufactures. As such, some machines may not have the ability to communicate state information with other machines at the same worksite.
One method for analyzing a change in machine operations is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2014/0247347 to McNeill et al. (the '347 application). The '347 application describes a camera or video system for monitoring, analyzing and controlling the operation of a machine (e.g., a corrugated-paper-processing machine). In some examples, the camera system includes one or more video cameras and video analytics for identifying one or more states and/or changes in state for a process or flow, such as distinguishing between a first state of the machine, such as a steady-state flow and a second state or states of the machine, such as a jam state or states, and/or a state or states of impending jam of the machine or articles operated on by the machine.
Although the '347 application describes a method that may help detect a change in simple machine states (e.g., steady-state and jam state of conveyer, safe zone and pedestrian zone for forktrucks), the method may be unsuitable for applications involving large machines in an open, expansive worksite such as a construction site or mine site, having multiple machine states and external variables complicating the analysis of images. Furthermore, the '347 application does not address the complications of having a mixed fleet worksite. These and other shortcomings of the prior art are addressed by this disclosure.